A/N- I hope you all enjoy the faster than expected update. Feel free to post a review! :)


Chapter 2

Three months had passed since the disappearance of the Cullens, and the rebirth of Bella Swan. On the outside at least to everyone, Bella had moved on gracefully as possible from the devastating and heart shattering news she had received the day after her 18th birthday, the day the life she had known, had ended. No matter how strong the internal battle was, Bella was determined not to let it show, to anyone, ever. To help with this process, Bella had begun the long road of self-love, per the advice of Charlie of all people. Bella had long had issues with accepting and loving herself, which she sure was an issue that bled into her relationship with the Cullens. These toxic tendencies, at least in Bella's mind had cost her everything, and she was determined to get it in check. To aid in this process, Bella had thrown herself into her studies, finally deciding on becoming a journalist. A passion she had always thought about, but had not pursued as she was too distracted and involved into fitting into the life of being a Cullen.

Part of this process as well was Bella accepting her sexuality, something that she had hidden away from everyone, fearful of reactions. Bella had come out to Charlie not too long ago and was immediately accepted by him. Despite Renee's attempts to connect with Bella after 18 years, Bella was not comfortable in sharing that piece of information with her. Bella was quite content to do the weekly updates via email, and share as little about her life as possible.

The people at school however were not as forgiving. Bella's first week after the Cullen's disappearance had been a living hell, between being branded as the outcast Cullen girl and now being bisexual to boot. Bella had convinced Charlie to let her continue schooling online, which he agreed to so long as Bella still had social interactions. Bella agreed, and had begun to rekindle her friendship with Jacob Black. She spent her days out at La Push, studying and working on school. She put her nose to the grind, and had in fact graduated early by a whole year. She had also taken up a job as a Tribal forest ranger, helping monitor the land for enforcement issues. To Bella, the job was perfect. The pay was more than enough, and allowed her the freedom to spend her time walking around the forest, meditating, and connecting further with Jacob and all of the other tribal residents.

Bella was now beginning the process of filling out college applications. She had been awarded a terrific scholarship opportunity locally, but Charlie had suggested she attempt to branch out to other options. Bella had agreed to apply, but if she were to be honest, she didn't want to leave Forks. She didn't want to leave Charlie or Jacob. Most importantly, she couldn't help but feel like she needed to stay. She wasn't sure why but she had been experiencing a lot of weird feelings lately.

Bella awoke with a start from a rather intense dream, gasping for air and shaking lightly. Her room was freezing, which was her own fault for leaving the window open throughout the night, another result from the weird feelings that she been experiencing. Bella ran a shaky hand throughout her dark hair, trying to calm down her racing heart. It was the dream, the same dream she had every night now for the past month. Bella looked down at her wrist and played with her bracelet. The dreams felt so real, but every morning it was the same. She only could recall it involving Alice and the longer she thought about it, the faster the details faded away. It was mornings like this where she wished Charlie was there, but he had left a couple of months ago for work. Bella continued to play with her bracelet as she remembered the conversation like it was yesterday.


Charlie walked into the kitchen, sipping on his coffee, and couldn't help but smile at Bella. He was so proud of the way she had handled the situation with Edward. He knew that it had been a challenge, and perhaps the hardest thing that Bella had to endure, but she had bounced back. Charlie wasn't exactly thrilled to know that Bella may be leaving the state, but was happy that she finally had a clear path of what she wanted to do with her life, and of who she wanted to become.

" Geesh, you would think you applied to every college in the world by now" Charlie mused, leaning against the doorway.

" Please. You're so dramatic. I've only applied to 5 schools." Bella playful remarked with a slight smirk, " I can start looking at more abroad opportunities if really want me to"

" Don't joke about that. I'm having a hard enough time accepting the fact that you may be moving just a state or two away." Charlie responded with a sip from his coffee mug.

"I know. But we'll see. Nothing says that I'll be accepted. Besides, I always have the scholarship here locally to fall back on. We'll just have to wait and see." Bella retorted, setting down her pen and sighing. She needed a break from applications and deadlines, and short essays explaining why she deserved to go to the University over a million other possible candidates.

" Well, hey listen, I have to go out of town for a few weeks. Maybe longer. There's been some activity in the upward part of the state. Possibly nothing, but possibly something. I need to go check it out" Charlie informed as he rinsed out his now drained coffee mug.

" That sounds bad. I hope that it's nothing to serious" Bella responded with genuine concern in her tone.

" Are you going to be alright by yourself? I know things have been touch and go with Jacob and everyone, but I would feel a lot better knowing someone was available in case anything was to happen while I was gone. I can always turn it down" Charlie asked as he shoved his hands into his pockets

" I'll be fine. I know how to use a gun, and dial 911. I promise, I will reach out to Angela or Eric. We've remained in touch since I graduated." Bella responded causally, "Honestly, you should go. We both know how much this will eat at you if you don't."

" Hate to admit it, but you're probably right. I am going to head out in a few minutes then. You know my cell, feel free to text or call at any time. I'm no fan of texting but it may be the best way as I will be in the field a lot." Charlie noted as he grabbed his car keys from the nearby post.

" You got it" Bella nodded as she stood up to hug her father goodbye.

" You take care of yourself now." Charlie lightly smiled and gently hugged Bella.

" I will, you be safe" Bella smiled lightly as Charlie ended the hug and begun to walk out the door.

"Always am." Charlie responded as the door closed.


Bella sighed and stood up. She missed Charlie like crazy, and made it a routine to text him throughout the day, especially in the morning. Bella grabbed her phone and sent a short good morning text to Charlie, frowning slightly as she didn't see a response to her good night text that she had sent the previous night.
"Maybe he just fell asleep early after a long shift" Bella mused and got out of bed. Bella stopped by her dresser and looked down at her unopened package on her dresser from My Heritage. She had decided that if she was going to be able to love herself, she needed to know all of herself and Charlie and Renee were not the best at providing information about their heritage. Bella played with the package, and sat down, opening up her laptop.

She opened her emails and opened up the draft that had been sitting, ready to send to Alice for weeks. Bella put the package down, and placed her fingers on the keyboard. Given the dreams, Bella felt the need to send an email to Alice, but wasn't sure what to even say. The words kept floating up and disappearing into the air. Bella nibbled on her lip, on one hand she greatly missed Alice, and the Cullens except for Edward. On the other, she still was greatly pissed off about how they handled everything. Anxiety began to fill Bella as she began to worry that she may not even be wanted.

Bella had been writing down feelings, random occurrences that happened in her day to day life, just random things that Bella had wanted to share with Alice, not by email but face to face. Bella groaned loudly and tapped her fingers anxiously on her computer desk. Finally, Bella typed out a very simple message.

" I miss you" was all that she wrote, adding the simple line to pages of random information and feelings needing to find release.

Suddenly an email came through from Renee. Bella quickly switched tabs, and wrote out a response. It was just the weekly check in. As much as Bella had tried to cover up how she was, Renee knew better but Bella would not acknowledge it. Without thinking, Bella hit send, and closed her laptop screen.

Bella continued to ponder on her feelings and thoughts on her dream as she made her way to the bathroom and stepped into a hot shower, getting ready to enjoy her day off from work with Jacob and the other wolves. Emily had said she was making some strawberry scones, which for some reason Bella was craving like crazy. Bella washed her hair with a lavender based shampoo and stayed in the shower longer than she should have. Bella sighed as thoughts of the email and her dream kept coming up to her mind. It was about Alice. Bella felt the familiar sting in her eyes as she had to remind herself that it was only just a dream, it whatever it was about would never be reality.

' I have been doing so well, these feelings haven't been a thing for a few weeks. Why are they back, and why are they so strong?' Bella mused, fighting furiously to keep her tears from falling.

Bella got out of the shower and quickly dried off, and got dressed. As part of her journey to accepting who she was, she had changed her look rather dramatically, at least for her. Bella's hair had been dyed a much darker brown, almost black and been cut to be layered, while still keeping the length. She had also had decided on some side swept bangs, which swept to the left of her face. She had changed her look up entirely, and now wore very form fitting dark colored jeans, which showed of her curves beautifully, along with low V-neck shirts, and a faux burgundy colored leather jacket, along with ankle high black boots with a slight heel. In many ways, she realized she was copying magazines she had seen in Alice's room before they had left, but with more of a punk rock look, fitting to the music she was into nowadays.

She had also gotten a tattoo of a dreamcatcher combined with a compass, which was placed over a nasty scar, one she had inflicted upon herself when she wasn't so strong after the Cullen's departure, the one that only Jake, a few members of the tribe, and she knew about. The tattoo was her promise to herself to never loose direction of herself or her dreams again. Bella finished getting ready by putting on a small amount of onyx eyeliner and mascara, and applying a small amount of perfume. Bella stopped and looked at the mirror smirking slightly to herself.

" Oh, Edward. If you could only see me now." Bella chuckled, before suddenly turning her glances out of the bathroom, down the hallway. Bella had since moved past Edward, and came to realization she never was in love with him, only with the idea of him. She no longer missed him, or even cared if she saw him again. She wished she could say the same thing about the rest of the Cullens. Those, she missed terribly. Bella's thoughts of the Cullens were quickly stopped, as there had been a flicker of light, almost like a crystal. A type of light she had only seen a handful of other times. Bella quickly exited the bathroom, and inspected the house, seeing nothing out of place or any evidence of anyone being there. Bella sighed, trying not to be disappointed. At least if Edward was back, she might be able to see Alice and the rest of the family again.

With that, there was a knock on the wooden front door. Bella walked over and opened it, seeing Jacob standing at the door with a stupid cheesy half smile on his face.

"Hey there Bella, you ready for today's adventure?" Jacob asked, grinning like a kid in a candy store.

"Yeah, you bet. Let's go" Bella nodded, closing the front door behind her and locking it.

Bella walked next to Jake over to his own and her motorcycles. She put on her red helmet, and started her bike, smiling light at the idea of the thrill. Her bike was her most expensive self-care present she had purchased for herself. Thankful for the impeccable timing by Jake, she could not shake the feeling that she had experienced back in the house. She looked up at her room one last time, satisfied that there was nothing out of the ordinary, and played it off as her imagination.

"Let's go!" Bella shouted above the roar of her bike, and Jacob and her left, very unaware of the true adventure that was waiting for them at the end of the day